حَنَانْ Longing

حَنَانْ

مِنْ غَابَةٍ فيها يَسُوقُونَ الجِّذُوعْ

ويَنْحَتُونْ الضُوءْ
يَنْبَغِي أَنْ يَكُونْ
يَنْبَغِي أَنْ تَكُونْ
 
أَنْ تَفْتَحَ هذا الجُرْحَ
تَكْتُبَ في دَمِهِ – مِنهُ
يَعْنِي تَوقُكَ لَكَ فِيها
مَسَاسُ شِرَاعَ غُرْبَتِهَا فِيكَ
واْقْترابُكَ مِنْ سِرِّ الوجُودْ
 
............
 

بالصِّدْقِ

تَبْقَى لَكَ مَسَافَةٌ تُحْرِقُ السَرَابَ
خَطْوَةٌ تَقْطَعُ الغِيَابَ
نَقَائِضَ
نَقَائِضَ
تُورِّثُ الطَرِيقَ وتَرْفَعُ الرَاياتْ
 

ياهذه الصُدْفَةُ

اْبْتَعِدِي عَنْ الحَدْسِ
ويا هذه الحَواسُّ اْقْتَرِبي مِنْ الظنُونْ
تَرَاكَمِي أَيتها المَواعِينُ الضَيِّقَةُ للأَشْيَاءْ
على الأَشْيَاءْ
وابْتَكِرِي حِوارَ القَيْدِ
والسُوقِ الجَّرِيحَةِ في الخُطَى
     حِوارَ المِعْصَمِ والمَعْصَم
إِهْرَعْنَ يَتُهَا العَارِياتُ – الجَازِعَاتُ عَلَيَّ
إِليَّ
 

وسَيِّجْنَ خُرَافَاتِي بالشَّتَمِ والبَخُورِ

بالدَلالِيكِ تَعَالَينَ هُتَافَاً
هُتَافَاً
وصِحْنَ بأَشْبَاحِكنَّ عَليَّ
عَليَّ
اْحْتَرِقْنَّ احتفالاً وبُشْرَى
حِدَادَاً
حِدَادَاً
وفَالْ
 

Longing

In a forest where they drive off the tree trunks
and carve the light
It must be
You must be
 
To open the wound
To write in its blood - with its blood
means your realisation through her -
the feel of her absence, like a sail, within you
as you near the secret of existence
 
...........
 
Truly
a distance remains that sets the mirage ablaze -
a step to cross the absence
contrast
by contrast
creates the path, unfurls the flags
 
Chance -
flee from intuition
Senses -
draw near doubt
Vessels - too narrow -
accumulate
Imagine the dialogue between chains
and bloodied ankles,
the conversation between shackle
and wrist
 
Hurry, naked ones - take pity on me
cloak my superstitions with drumbeats and incense
Chant, chant
Proclaim your ghosts
Ignite in celebration
In mourning
In mourning
As an omen
 

Longing

In a forest where they drive off the tree trunks
and carve the light
It must be
You must be
 
To open the wound
to write in its blood - with its blood
That means, your yearning there for her
Is the feeling of the sail/tent of her exile in you
And your approach to the secret of existence
 
............
 
In truth
You still have the distance to set a mirage ablaze,
A step that cuts across the absence
Flytings!
Flytings!
You pass down the road and raise the flags.
 
O this surprise,
go away from intuition
And O my senses,
go near to my thoughts!
Pile up, you narrow vessels for things
upon the things
And invent the conversation of the chain
And the market wounded in error
The conversation of wrist-shackle and restraint
 
Hurry up, naked things - things having pity on me
Toward me,
Restrain my superstitions in curses and smoke
In sunsets that arise as exclamation
exclamation
And proclaim your ghosts to me
to me
Ignite in celebration and good-tidings
In mourning
In mourning
As good omen
 

Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi’s poems are notoriously difficult to translate – as this workshop demonstrated! It took us two-and-a-half hours to work our way through this poem, not only because Arabic itself can often be quite tricky to get into clear English, but because Saddiq’s poems are themselves especially complex in Arabic; heavily influenced by Sufism, they are concerned with subjects at first sight far removed from quotidian, empirical English sensibilities.

Clarissa Ackroyd wrote a fascinating article for the ArabLit blog which gives a real insight into how the evening progressed.

We had a long discussion about the title, ‘Longing’. We also have another poem by Saddiq called ‘Longing’, but that ‘longing’ is translated from a different word in Arabic – arguably more like ‘yearning’. But we decided to stick with ‘longing’ for this poem (despite the duplication) because its translation is closest to the Arabic.

We then had a detailed discussion about the opening line. Since Saddiq was present, he could confirm that, yes, this line referred to a forest that is being cut down. We decided to stay with Sam’s literal translation of the line because ‘drive off’ in English can mean the trees were both being ‘driven away’ (on lorries) and that sense of ‘driving off’ animals, shooing them away.

Every single line of the poem demanded similar levels of detailed examination and discussion. We hope you enjoy reading the result!

Sarah Maguire, Workshop Facilitator

Original Poem by

Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

Translated by

Samuel Wilder with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Arabic

Country

Sudan